Press Release

CANDY CHANG

July 20 – August 12, 2012

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in partnership with Art Production Fund, is pleased to announce artist-in-residence Candy Chang. Candy has transformed P3Studio into a reflective place where guests are invited to participate by writing down their confessions anonymously on wooden plaques in the privacy of a confession booth. The anonymous confessions are displayed on the gallery walls with select responses painted onto large canvases. By collecting the confessions of the hotel’s visitors, this project seeks to capture the private thoughts of this temporary community and help us see we are not alone in our experiences as we try to lead fulfilling lives. The project was partly inspired by Japanese shrine walls, "Post Secret" and Catholicism.

Candy Chang is an artist whose current focus is to make cities more emotional. She believes in the potential of sharing more in public space to improve our communities and ourselves. By combining street art with urban planning, activism, and contemplation, she has been recognized for developing new strategies for the design of our cities. She received a BS in Architecture, a BFA in Graphic Design, and a Masters in Urban Planning from Columbia University. Once a designer at The New York Times, she went on to collaborate with community groups to make city resources and citizens’ rights more accessible.

Recent projects include Looking for Love Again on an abandoned high-rise, and I Wish This Was on vacant storefronts—an idea that further developed into Neighborland, a tool to help people come together to improve their communities. She created Before I Die on an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans for people to reflect on their lives and share their personal aspirations in public space.

She is the cofounder of Civic Center, a creative studio dedicated to restoring dignity to public space. Her work has been exhibited in the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Southbank Centre, and she has created public art commissions for civic institutions, international airports, hotels, and creative organizations. She speaks internationally and has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, the Alaska Design Forum, the European Capital of Culture, and ArtPlace.

The artist-in-residence program at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas represents one component of its larger art program, in which artists create projects that are interactive and participatory, giving guests the opportunity to connect at an authentic and personal level. Developed and curated in partnership with Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, it strives to reach new audiences and expand awareness through contemporary art.